The Most Important Products Invented By Baby Boomers

As the biggest generation in recorded history, the Baby Boomers shaped the modern lanscape. They infused it with their hopes, dreams, fears, and sensibilities. For better or worse, the baby boomers rule the world and have made it in their image. Besides cultural cues, however, Baby Boomers created some of the most important inventions in history.

Be it life-saving medical devices or revolutionary technology that connects different parts of the globe, this massive generation had a hand in bringing those products to fruition. As such, let's explore a brief list of the most important products invented by Baby Boomers. Some of them may surprise you. (For other innovations from the Baby Boomer period, discover the most successful inventions of the 1960s.)

To compile a list of the most important products invented by Baby Boomers, 24/7 Tempo consulted several publications including Rueters.com, Everythingzoomer.net, and Reddit.com. From there, we confirmed aspects of our research using sites like Britannica and the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame.

Robert Jarvik, by all accounts, was a child prodigy. He invented several innovative medical devices while still a teenager, including the surgical stapler. While still an undergraduate student, Jarvik became inspired to invent the artificial heart after his father needed heart surgery. He eventually became a doctor, inventing further products including the Jarvik 7. Though it wasn't the first artificial heart, it was the first one that could be implanted inside a person's chest. This provided incredible potential for future iterations of similar devices.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both of the baby boomer generation, met while working as summer interns for tech giant Hewlett-Packard. Jobs was the marketing guy, but Wozniak was the true inventor. His obsession with computing apocryphally led to him literally thinking in computer code. It also led to the Apple II, the first personal computer to include colored graphics, a sound card, and other features. While it seems quaint in retrospect, the Apple II ushered in the age of computers and stands as an early testament to the power of technology.

Go figure that a woman invented a revolutionary product for men. Dr. Gill Samuels, born in 1945, always had an inclination toward taking things apart and putting them back together again. After earning a degree in physiology from Sheffield University and a degree in experimental neuropharmacology from Birmingham University, Samuels became a research scientist for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. There, she helped invent several innovative drugs.

Her crowning achievement, however, remains Viagra. It gave men in their twilight years a much-needed boost of virility, changing countless lives in the process. Thanks to the drug's success, with annual sales reaching $1.934 billion, Samuels went on to be Pfizer's director of cardiovascular biology as well as a board member for the World Health Organization.

Arguably the most successful inventor of his generation, Dean Kamen, has tackled countless problems and produced remarkable inventions in the process. Take the portable dialysis machine, for example. Kamen recognized the need for patients with kidney disease to travel while still keeping their organs in safe shape. Previous dialysis machines were bulky and hard to move around, if at all.

Kamen took the original dialysis machine and changed its regulation flow to involve air pressure instead of drop counting. Thus, the portable dialysis machine was born. It gave patients the ability to move around more, and more importantly, undertake dialysis treatment from the comfort of their homes. For its success, Design News named it the "Medical Product of the Year" in 1993.

No invention has changed the face of the world quite like the World Wide Web. Sir Tim Berners-Lee grew up in a mathematical household, often tinkering with electronics. He even built his own computer while still an undergraduate physics student. This led to a software consulting job for CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory.

Seeking to solve the problem of linking different types of information across early computer networks, Berners-Lee invented the modern internet with a 1989 scientific paper. From there, he developed computer code to build websites and browsers. While many innovators came after him, Berners-Lee gets the lion's share of credit for inventing the modern internet. (For cultural shifts, discover 20 life-defining experiences of the Baby Boomer generation.)

Dean Kamen is the only inventor on this list twice. After serving up serious innovations in the medical field, he turned his attention towards transportation. When the Segway saw introduction in 2001, many commentators dismissed it as another scooter, but it was so much more. It incorporated a complicated gyroscope that allowed the scooter to self-balance, adapting instantly to its driver's subtle shifts of body. The Segway had its time in the spotlight before falling out of favor. It might not be a lifesaving device, but it did mark a bold approach to new forms of transportation and locomotion.

The USB port is now as ubiquitous as the World Wide Web and it was invented by baby boomer Ajay Bhatt. After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from M.S. Unversity in Baroda, India, Bhatt emigrated to the United States. Eventually, he scored a job at Intel. While there, he was hit with a burst of inspiration. Fed up with the logistics of data transfer between computers, Bhatt wondered if devices could be connected like electrical cords into wall outlets. Along with his team, Bhatt invented the Universal Serial Bus (USB). Its simple design and ease of use led to the USB port becoming an ever-present feature of computers, printers, keyboards, and digital cameras.

No invention has transformed the landscape of criminal justice quite like DNA Fingerprinting. Invented by Sir Alec Jeffreys, a biochemist by trade, DNA Fingerprinting uses strands of DNA unique to each individual to identify them. This invention made instant waves in criminal justice and paternity disputes. It has also led to the freedom of many prisoners falsely accused of crimes. (For more on overturned sentences, explore 13 famous cases of wrongful conviction.)